Meat-slitting machine



Dec. 3, 1940. -J. P. SPANG MEAT-SLITTING MACHINE 4 hetS-Sheet 1 Filed Aug 2 7 IIII I l l l l1 l llll m woo A m W W m P In p e 8 C uwv. HwMHHHHWwHhHHHw.HHHHH m Dec. 3,- 1940. P, SPAN G v V 2,223,466

MEAT- SLITTING MACHINE 'Filed Aug. 25, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lhvenToT. \JosephP Spung byM MiW Dec; 3, 1940. J. P. SPANG 2,223,466

MEAT-SLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 25, 1937 4 Sheet-Sheet 4 Fig.8;

InvenTQr.

Qoseph F. Spcmg I ATTys.-

Patented Dec. 3, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Joseph P. Spang, Quincy, Mass" assienor to Cube Steak Machine Company, Inc., Boston, .Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 25, 1937, Serial No. 160,840

12 Claims. (01. 17-26) This invention relates to a meat-slitting machine and it has for its general object to provide a novel machine of this type embodying rotary slitting knives and in which the meat to be slit is carried by a meat-supporting plate which is mounted to be reciprocated beneath the knives at a speed independent from the rotary speed of the knives, the construction being such that during the forward movement of the plate the knives act on the meat to slit the latter and during the return movement of the plate the slice of meat is discharged therefrom.

Since the reciprocating movement of the meatsupporting plate is independent of the speed of rotation of the knives, it is possible to move the plate beneath the knives during the slitting operation at a speed which is best adapted to perform the meat-slitting operation.

While any suitable means may be employed for giving the meat-supporting plate its reciprocating movement, I have herein shown a construction where the plate is adapted to be manually operated.

In the drawings:

Hg. 1 is a side view of a meat-slitting machine embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a section through the frame on the line 22, Fig. l, the motor, the driving connection between the motor and the knife shafts and.

various parts such as 43, 44, 45, 41, 49, 53, being shown in elevation;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view on substantially the line l-4 Fig. 2 but showing the sprocket wheels and sprocket chains in elevation;

Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are fragmentary sectional views illustrating difierent ways in which the.

machine may be used;

.Flg. 8 is a perspective view of the meatsupporting member;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view illustrating the manner in which the meat-supporting member 3, the. knife shaft 2 carrying anupper set of rotary knives 4 for making slits in the top side of a slice 8 of meat and the other knife shaft.3 carrying a series of rotary knives 5 for cutting slits in the under side of a slice of meat. These shafts 2 and 3 are journaled in suitable bearings carried by the end members 6 and I of the frame I. The invention would not be departed from, however, if the machine were made with a will be slit thereby, while during the return movement of said member. the slit slice of meat will be discharged therefrom.

Where an upper and a lower set of knives is employed as herein illustrated, the meat-support ing plate 9 will be preferably provided with slots H registering with the knives and in which the knives of the lower set may operate during the reciprocating movement of said plate 9.

The reciprocating movement of the meatsupporting plate 9, whichgmovement is independent of the speed of rotation of the knives,

may be imparted thereto by any suitable means. For illustrative purposes I have herein shown the plate 9 as provided at one end with a handle I? by which it may be moved manually back and forth in the ways l0.

. In using the device, the meat-supporting plate 9 will be moved backwardly in the ways It into the positlon'shown in Fig. land a slice 8 of meat will then be placed on the member 9. The

operator then pushes the member 9 forwardly in bers embracing the edgesof the plate, which channel members are connected together by cross bars 59. The channel members It are not connected beyond each cross bar so that the space between the channel members at the right hand end in Fig. 'l is free for the movement of the operator's hand in manipulating the plate 9, and the space between said members I at the left hand end is also open and unobstructed for the discharge of the slit slice upon the return movement of the plate 3.

The movement of the slice 8 of meat past the knives will cut slits in the meat extending in the direction of feed. If it'is desired to cuta second series of slits inthe meat extending across the slits cut by the first pass of the meat beneath the i knives, then the slice of meat will be fed a sec- 0nd time past the knives.

l3 ,indicate resilient stripper or hold-down fingers which are associated with the knives 4 and which serve to retain the meat'on the sliding meat-supporting plate member 9 during the slitting operation and which also prevent the meat from being lifted off from the plate by the rotative movement of the knives. These stripper fingers may have any suitable or usual construction and are herein illustrated as similar to those shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 91,676, filed July 21, 1936, which issued as Patent No. 2,216,216 on October 1, 1940. The stripper fingers l3 are carried by a head member I4 which is removably mounted on a supporting bar l5, the latter being carried by arms I3 rigid with the ways i0.

As stated above, the slitting of the meat is accomplished by the operator moving the meatsupporting member 9 forwardly a suflicient distance to carry the slice 8 of meat past the knives. When this has been done the operator returns the member 9 to its initial position and during the return movementthe stripper fingers I 3 serve to push the slice of meat oil? from the left hand end of the returning member 9. The frame I .is provided with a delivery chute I1 onto which the slice of meat is discharged from the member 9, and this chute delivers the slice of meat into the pan or receptacle i8 which is'shown as mounted on a suitable bracket I 9. The feeding of the slice 8 of meat past the knives causes slits to-be cut in the meat extending in the direction of feed and, as stated above, if it is desired to cute. second series of slits in the meat crossing the slits of the first series then the operator will take the slice of meat from the pan or receptacle i8 and place it again on the meat-supporting plate 9 when the latter is in retracted position and with the slits in the meat extending transversely to the direction of feed, and he will then a second timemove the plate 9 forwardly to carry the meat past the knives. During the return movement of the plate fat 3 the doubly slit slice of meat will be discharged knives with the meat tends to pull the meat forv wardly.

In other words, the driving mechanism I prefer to use is such that both the upper knives ;4 and the lower knives will berotated clockwise in' Figs. land 3.

y The motor for operating the knives is indicated collar 34 on the stem 3|.

to hold the sprocket chain 21 under proper tenat 20 and it is mounted on a platform 2| that is pivotally connected at one edge to the frame I as indicated at 22. The motor shaft carries a pulley 23 which is connected by a ,driving belt 24 to a pulley 25 on the upper knife shaft 2 so that said knife shaft is driven from the motor. I

- Thelower knife shaft 3 is driven from the upper knife shaft 2 and for this purpose the knife shaft 2 has thereon a sprocket wheel 23 which is connected by a sprocket chain 21 to a sprocket wheel 28 fast on the knife shaft 3. This sprocket chain 2'! runs over a tension member 23 by which the sprocket chain is kept taut. This tension mem- I her is in-the form of a sprocket wheel journaled in a carrier 30 which is provided with a stem 3| extending through a portion 32 of the frame I. 33 is a coiled spring encircling said stem and confined between the portion 32 of the frame and a The spring 33 tends slon.

The guiding member III for the meat-supporting plate 9 is capable of vertical adjustment thereby to vary the relative depths of the slits cut in the top and bottom faces of the "lice 8. This member can be so adjusted that the lower knives 5 will be entirelybelow the slice 8 so that slits will be cut in the upper face only of the meat. Or said guiding member ID may be adjusted into a vertical position in which .the lower knives 5 as well as the upper knives 4 will cut slits in the meat, and by varying the adjustment of the membar It) vertically the relative depths 'of the slits cut in the top and bottom faces of the meat can be varied as desired. This adjustment of the member ID is provided for by pivotally connecting.

the two ways It to the frame and providing means for swinging the ways vertically about their pivot axis. As herein shown each of the ways I0 is formed with a trunnion 35 which is journaled in suitable bearing 33 in the frame. For vertically adjusting the member"! the latter is connected by a link 31 to an arm 33 fast on a rock shaft 33 that is journaled in the frame, and said rock shaft also has fast thereto another arm 40 which constitutes a handle by which the rock shaft can be turned thereby swinging the left hand end of the guiding member ID up or down as shown by the dotted linesin Fig. l. The handle 43 is provided with a spring-pressed locking pin 4| adapted to engage in any one of a plurality of holes '42 formed in the frame I thereby to hold the guiding member ID in its adjusted position.

In have also provided means for adjusting the two knife shafts 2 and 3 toward and from each other.

For this purpose each. shaft is journaled at each end in an, eccentrically-mounted bearing 43 which in turn is mounted for turning movement in the end member of the frame. The two eccentric bearings'43 for the upper shaft 2 are connected together by a yoke 44 and these eccentrics can be turned for adjusting the upper shaft up or down through the medium of a handle 45. This handle is shown as journaled in the cover plate '43 and it is connected to the eccentric 43 through a yoke 41.

A similar construction is employed for adjusting the eccentric bearings 43 for the lower shaft 3 said bearings being connected by the yoke member 43 and one of the bearingsbeing connected by another yoke member 43 to an arm 50 which is journaled in the cover plate 43. Each of the arms 45 and 5t carry at its end a spring-pressed locking pin 5| adapted to engage any one of a plurality of apertures 52 formed in the cover plate 46. Each. locking pin'is provided with a head 53 by which it may be withdrawn from the locking aperture against the action of the spring 5 54. If it is desired to slit the slices 8 of meat so that the slits will be entirely on the upper face thereof andso that the lower face will present a thin film 62 of unslit meat, which is the usual method of making what is known as "cube steak,

then the guiding member l0 will be adjusted into the position shown in Fig. 3, in which position the upper knives 4 will out nearly through the slice 8 of meat but the lower knives 5 will just clear the meat.

n it is desired to slit the meat on both the top and bottom faces and to leave a thin film 55 of unslit meat in the center of the slice, then the guiding member ID will .be lowered into the position shown in Fig. '7 and when the slice 8' of meat is carried through the machine with this adjustment there will be slits 53 cut in the upper face of the meat by the knives 4 and slits 54 cut in the lower face of the meat by the knives 5, andthere will also be a thin film 55'of meat between the, upper and lower slits. If it is desired to cut clear through the meat so as to cut a slice of meat into strips then the guiding member ID will be adjusted upwardly into the position shown in Fig. 5 so that the upper edge of the knives 4 will operate in the slits ll of the meat-supporting plate 9. With this adjustment the upper knives 4 will cut clear through the slices of meat thus cutting it into strips. I

' So-called "Swiss steak is made by cutting shallow slits in both top and bottom faces of the meat as shown in Fig. 12. When it is desired to slit meat in this way the eccentric bearings 43 of the knives are adjusted to separate the upper and lower knives from each other as shown in Fig. 6 0 and then the member ID may be adjustedvertically into a position wherein shallow slits 55 will be cut in both faces of the slice of meat by both sets of knives. l

Inasmuch as the stripper fingers l3 are carried 45 by the ways l0 said fingers will move with the I ways when thelatter are adjusted vertically and, therefore, said fingers will have the same action on the slice of meat regardless of any vertical ad- Justment of the guiding member Ill.

50 .In the construction herein illustrated the driving means for the knives 4 and 5 is such as to cause the upper knives 4 to rotate considerably faster than the lower knives 5. Fig. 4 shows the sprocket wheel 28 on the upper knife shaft 2 as.

65 As the meat is fed between the knives the friction of the rapidly rotating upper knives 4 on the meat will tend to pull the meat forward and this will assist in feeding the meat-supporting plate forward. When the guides III are adjusted 70 so that the meat is being slit on the top face only, the friction of the knives 4 on the meat may be sufficient to feed both the plate 9 and the meat forward so that the operator has little to do except to control the feeding movement of the 7 plate.

When the parts are adjusted as shown in Fig. 3 the lowerknives 5 occupy the slits H in the plate 9, and during thisreturn movement the friction of the knives against the sides of the slits II or against any meat fragments which may be .re- 5 tained on the plate will help to give the plate its return movement.

While I have herein illustrated a meat-slitting Y machine having two sets of knives, one for cutting slits in the upper face of the meat and the 10 other for cutting slits-in the lower face of the meat, yet if it'is desired to cut slits on the upper face only of the meat the presence of they lower set of knives 5 will not be essential and, therefore, said knives could be omitted withoutdepart- 15 ing from the invention.

In Figs. 13 and 14 I have shown a reversible meat-supporting plate which is designated 9a. This meat-supporting plate is provided with the slots ll similar to the meat-supporting plate-9 20 and is also provided with a handle l2-a by which it may be moved back and forth in the .ways Ill. The plate is reversible so that it can be placed in the ways either side up. One face of the plate is provided with transverse corrugations 10 and 25 the other face is free of such corrugations, For slitting some kinds of meat best results are secured if the meat is supported on a meat-supporting plate having a roughened surface while for slitting other kinds of meat best results can be secured if the meat is supported on a smooth surface. The reversible plate shown in Figs. 13 and 14 provides a construction which allows the operator to support his meat on either a roughened 35 surface or a smooth surface.

6| indicates a stop which is pivotally secured to the endofone of the ways In and which limits the backward movement of the'plate 9. When the plate is to be withdrawn from the ways this 40 stop 6| may be swung to one side about its pivot. I claim:

1. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of upper rotary slitting knives, a set of lower rotary slitting knives, means to rotate the knives of both sets, a guiding member having ways extending from one to the other-side of said sets of knives, a meat-supporting plate supported by said ways and free to be moved therein continuously in a forward direction and continuously in a backward direction independent of the rotary movement of the knives, the forward movement being suflicientto carry a slice of meat supported on the plate from one side of the knives, between the knives of the two sets and to the other side of I said knives, said plate having slots in which the. knives of oneset operate, whereby said knives will cut in both sides of the meat continuous slits extending across' said slice in the direction of feed, said plate having means for manually giving it both its forward and backward continuous movement in said ways at a speed less than the peripheral speed of the knives whereby the knives .will slit meat with a draw out. a

2. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of-rotary slitting knives, means to rotate the knives, a vertically adjustable guiding member beneath the knives, said guiding member having ways, a manually operable meat-supporting plate having at all times a free back-and-forth sliding movement of limited extent in said ways independently of the rotative movement of the knives and adapted to ca'rrya slice of meat past the knives and'then to be returned manually to initial position from any point in its forward movement, and means for adjusting the guiding member. a

3. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of rotary slitting knives, means to rotate said knives, a vertically adjustable guiding member beneath the knives, said guiding member having ways, a manually operable meat-supporting plate having at all times a free reciprocatory movement of limited extent in said ways which is independent of the rotary motion of the knives, said plate being adapted during its forward movement to carry a slice of meat thereon past the knives, means to discharge the slit slice of meat from the plate during its return movement, and means for adjusting the guiding member vertically.

4. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of upper slitting knives, a set of lower slitting knives, means to rotate both sets of knives, a guiding member having ways, a manually operable meatsupporting plate freely slidable forwardly and backwardly in said ways independently of the r0-.

tative movement of the knives and capable of an amplitude of movement suificient to carry a. slice of meat from one to the other side of the knives and between the two sets of knives, said plate having slots in which the knives of one or both sets may operate.

5. A meat-slitting machine comprising two sets of rotary slitting knives, one above the other, means to rotate said knives, a guiding member having ways, a manually operable meat-supporting plate having a free forward and backward sliding movement in said ways, which movement is independent of the rotative movement of the knives, said plate being adapted during its forward movement to carry a slice of meat thereon between the two sets of knives, and means to discharge the slit slice of meat from the plate during its return movement.

6. A meat-slitting, machine comprising two sets of rotary slitting knives, one above the other, means to rotate said knives, a guiding member.

having ways, a manually operable meat-supporting plate having a free reciproca-tory sliding movement in said ways, which movement is independent of the rotative movement of the knives, said plate being adapted during its forward movment to carry a slice of meat thereon between the two sets of knives, means to discharge the slit slice of meat from the plate during its return movement, and means to adjust the guiding member vertically thereby to vary the relative depth of the slits cut in the top and bottom faces of the meat. I I

'7. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of rotary slitting knives, means to rotate the knives, a guiding member beneath the knives, a manually operable meat-supporting plate free at all times to be reciprocated manually in said guiding member independent of the rotary motion of the knives, said plate being adapted during its forward movement to carry a slice of meat past the knives, and stripper means acting on the meat while it is being slit to hold it on the plate, said stripper means also acting to discharge the slit slice of meat from the plate upon its return movement.

8. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of rotary slitting knives, means to rotate the knives, a vertically adjustable guiding member beneath the knives, said guiding member having ways, a meat-supporting plate freely slidable in said ways independently of the rotative movement of the knives and adapted to carry a slice of meat past the knives, a stripper assembly carried by and ad'- justable with the guiding member and adaptedto hold the meat to said plate during the slitting operation, and means for adjusting the guiding member. vertically.

9. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of rotary slitting knives, means to rotate the knives, a vertically adjustable guiding member beneath the knives, said guiding member having ways, a meat-supporting plate freely slidable in said ways independently of the rotative movement of the knives and adapted to carry a slice of meat past the knives, means for adjusting the guiding member toward and from the knives, a stripper assembly carried by and adjustable with the guiding member and constructed to hold the meat to said plate during the slitting operation and to discharge the meat from the plate during its return movement.

10. vA meat-slitting machine'comprising a set of upper slitting knives, a set of lower slitting knives, means to rotate the knives of both sets in the same direction, a guiding member having ways,

a meat-supporting plate freely slidable in saidways independently of the rotative movement of the knives and adapted to carry a slice ofmeat between the two sets of knives, said plate having slots in which the knives of one set may operate.

11. A meat-slitting machine comprising a set of rotary knives, means to rotate said knives, a guiding member beneath the knives, said guiding member having ways, a manually-operable meatsupporting plate having at all times a free backand-forth sliding movement in said ways, which movement is independent of the rotary movement of the knives, said meat-supporting plate having a handle at one end by which it may be manually moved forwardly in said ways and then manually returned to initial position, said plate being'adapted during its forward manual movement to carry a slice of meat thereon past the knives, and means to discharge the slit slices of meat from the plate during its manual return of said knives during the forward movement, said plate having means by which it may be given its manual forward and backward movement and being adapted during its forward movement to carry a slice of meat past the knives, and means to discharge the slit slice of meat from the plate during its return movement.

- 1 JOSEPH P. SPANG. 

